Leona Madonna Mason

Funeral services for Leona Madonna Mason will be held at St. Leo's Catholic Church in Lusk on Friday, May 29th at 10 a.m. with a viewing and Rosary on Thursday night at 6 p.m.

Leona is survived by her children, son, Perry Mason and his wife Dourthea and daughter Debra Tillotson and her husband Steve. Leona is also survived by her grandchildren Brittany Rae Tillotson, Nathan Tillotson, Dennis Mason, Larry Mason, Thomas Mason, Perry Mason Jr., and Megan Mason.

Pier Funeral Home is assisting with arrangements.

The Lusk Herald
July 1, 2015

Leona Johnston Mason passed away May 23, 2015. She was born November 22, 1937 to Frank and Teresa Thomas Johnston. She lived with her family on her grandparents' free homestead place south of Andrews, Nebraska, and attended school in a one-room school house in District 53. She either walked or rode a horse to attend a one-room school two miles away. The old pot-bellied stove burned coal or wood but it was often cold in the winter months. Leona attended High School in Harrison graduating with the Sioux County Class of 1955. After graduation, she enrolled in beauty school at Scottsbluff, Nebraska, which led to a job in Sidney, Nebraska where she met her future husband, Tom Mason. They were married in May, 1959 and adopted two children, Perry and Debra. Tom worked at the Sioux Ordnance Depot until it closed and they were then transferred to Anchorage, Alaska where they lived for several years. They lived for a time in Lebanon, Oregon before retiring to Arizona. They spent several years traveling in a motor home before finally coming to Lusk in 1992.

Leona, a devout Catholic, taught catechism in Alaska and Lusk. She was a teacher's aide in the Alaskan and Lusk schools during the years her children and grandchildren were in school. Leona loved music and gave piano lessons. She worked for a time in McDonalds in Arizona and in the kitchen in the Niobrara Hospital. She loved to sew, was an avid reader and played pinochle with friends.

Preceding her in death were her husband, Tom, parents Teresa and Frank Johnston, brother Laurence and a sister Eva. Surviving her are children, Perry and Debra, seven grandchildren, two sisters, Anita Geike of Lusk, and Velma (Jerry) Caswell of Taos, N.M., a brother-in-law Richard (Myrtle) Mason of Wheatland and a sister-in-law in Scottsbluff, Nebr.

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